As many of you may know, the James Randi Educational Foundation has a standing offer of $1 million to anyone who can prove that they have psychic or mediumistic abilities.

A few months ago the JREF asked if Chris French (Goldsmith University) and I (Richard Wiseman) would carry out an initial test of a medium named Patricia Putt.

We went back and forth about the protocol, and eventually settled on an experimental design. Basically, Patricia would carry out readings for 10 strangers, and then all of the participants would be presented with all 10 readings and have to select the one that best described them.

To cut down on possible sensory cues, the strangers were not allowed to interact with Patricia, and asked to wear a graduation gown and facial mask.

Richard Wiseman

Chris and his wonderful team (Panka Juhasz, James Munroe, Fabio Tartarini and Suzanne Barbieri) put in a huge amount of time sorting out the logistics of the experiment and making sure that it all ran smoothly on the day. Chris and Panka in particular worked especially hard on the project and so deserve the credit for makng it happen.

Patricia was a joy to work with, and carried out the readings as promised. I sat in the room with Patricia as she wrote her readings and sent the occasional twitter update .

None of the participants were able to correctly identify their reading, and so the results do not support Patricia

Signature

“By the sweat on our brows, and the strengths of﻿ our backs…Gentlemen. Hoist the Colours! And you, madam, I warn you, I know the entire Geneva Convention by heart!”
Trust me.

However, to her credit, she took it on the chin and said that she felt that the test had been a fair examination of her abilities.

Good for her!
That seems so much more dignified than those who are tested and then whinge about it, despite the fact they agreed to the protocol beforehand. I’m thinking particularly of the dowser who failed horribly, then complained that his powers were thrown by the gold in the gold ink (of which there was none) in the titles of the books in the library, which was next to the room where he was dowsing.

“Herbal medicine’s been around for thousands of years! Indeed it has. And then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became medicine. And the rest of it’s just a nice bowl of soup and some pot pourri.” - Dara O’Briain